Marketing isn’t easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it’s even tougher than you realize. Did you know that Amazon has 235,846 books in the Marketing & Sales section? All trying to answer the same question: How do I get results from my marketing efforts without wasting money?

To begin with, marketing is constantly changing. This constant change has led businesses to ask a lot of questions about online marketing. When they get tired of fumbling around in the dark for the answers, they start asking questions that disprove the age-old adage that there are no stupid questions.

Read on to find out the top 5 “wrong” questions you ask about online marketing and more importantly, what you should be asking instead.

The Wrong Questions to Ask About Online Marketing And What You Should Ask Instead

The Question You Ask: “Why isn’t my site on the first page of Google?”

Yes, of course you want to be on the first page of Google. You want your prospects to instinctively flock to your website like the salmon of Capistrano. Some of our clients think that once they’ve created a great website, their work is done and they should automatically be on the first page. Unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Better Question: “What is Google’s criteria for ranking well in their search results and what do I need to improve my search ranking?”

The good news is Google wants businesses to know how to rank well. Google makes major changes to their algorithm every month (15 major changes in 2014), which is a pain to keep up with, but they do it to constantly improve the search results for the end-user. We keep going to Google because we know we’ll find what we’re looking for. And we usually find it on the first page.

Getting on the first page of Google takes talent, hard work and the right tools. It would be impossible to go into depth about how to get on the first page of Google in a short blog, but here’s the 30,000 foot overview:

You have to have the talent, or access to the talent, that is able to create remarkable content. You also need the talent to optimize your content so search engines can find it and make it show up in the search results.

For example, I read a great blog recently that provided tips to reduce your energy bill. However, it wasn’t optimized at all. The title of the blog was “Golf Anyone?” Nobody that’s searching for energy saving tips is going to use the keyphrase, “golf anyone?” A better title might have been: “How to Keep Your Energy Bill Lower Than Jordan Spieth’s Scorecard.”

Getting on the first page also takes hard work and time. You have to consistently blog, post on social media and stay up to date with the latest online marketing trends and changes. The right tools can help you with that. For example, we have a tool called the Website Analysis. It’s a free website analysis and review of your online marketing. It’s also a guide that assists you in navigating all the changes in the online marketing world.

The Question You Ask: “Why do I even need to be on social media?”

One question is dumb; the other is dumber. Which question do you think is dumber? The answer to both is, yes. Yes, your business needs to be on social media and yes; you go to the airport to fly somewhere.

Better Question: “Who is your audience and where do they spend time online?”

The better approach is to define your target market and find out where they spend their time online. Once you know your target market and where they “hang out” online, then you can tailor content for them that’s useful and relevant to their needs. Stop wasting your time wondering whether you should be on social media and go figure out who your customers are and where they hang out online.

The Question You Ask: “Why should I spend money to update my 10-year-old website?”

I hate to tell ya your baby’s ugly…but your baby’s ugly. Your 10-year-old website is outdated, turns prospects away and most importantly, it’s probably not mobile friendly. It’s time to totally redeem yourself and trade it in for a new one.

Better Question: “Why does my website need to be mobile friendly?”

Over half the time spent online is now on mobile devices (source: 2015 Internet Trends). Plus, if your website isn’t mobile friendly, Google’s “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update completely kicked you off their mobile search results (60% of search is now done on mobile devices…so you’re missing out on 60% of the market searching for you).

Again, it’s all about what your prospects and customers are doing and where they’re spending their time. They’re spending more and more time on their mobile devices so that’s why your website needs to be mobile-friendly.

The Question You Ask: “Can you make my content go viral?”

No, you can’t do that. You can’t just “make” content go viral. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. However, if you ask a better question, maybe you can find out what factors can potentially make your content go viral.

Better Question: “What content can we create that our audience will find valuable and shareable?”

The first key is to always be thinking about content that is useful to your target market. What problems do they have that you can solve? Be a problem solver. The second key is to make your content shareable. People want to seem smart. If your content makes them look good and seem smart, they’ll share it.

The Question You Ask: “Why doesn’t my website and social media produce more leads?”

There could be a lot of reasons why you’re not getting more leads from your website and social media. But I can tell you for certain that you won’t get any leads if you just hang out by the bar and ‘put out the vibe’.

Better Question: “Is your website easy to use and understand?”

The primary purpose of your website is to tell visitors 3 things: Here’s what I got…here’s what it will do for you…and here’s what to do next. Leads might be slipping through the cracks because it’s not clear what you do.

Another reason is that your website content might be all about you. No offense, but people don’t care about how great you are, they care about what’s in it for them. So tell them. And then tell them exactly what to do next. Having a clear call-to-action on every page of your website and every social media page, post, tweet, video, etc. is essential to boosting lead generation.

I’m not saying that you should try and sell something every time, quite the opposite, but you should certainly guide your prospect along your path with clear direction on what to do next. (Check out Gary Vaynerchuck’s book: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook to get a solid blueprint on how to tell your story in a noisy world)

Last Question: Now what?

Now that you know better questions to ask, take action and start answering them. Ask anyone in your business involved in marketing and sales to give their perspective too. You could even ask your customers what they think.

Since you’re so deeply involved in what you do, you might over complicate things and get lost in the weeds. That’s why getting an outsider’s perspective might help. We’ve reviewed hundreds of websites with our free website analysis tool. It will help you generate 10x the leads from your website tomorrow by getting your website analyzed today. All you have to do is share your website URL with us so we can do the analysis. Then sit back and relax while we’re hard at work on your analysis.

So start asking better questions. When you ask better questions, you get better answers.